


The Ultimate Evolution

by LilithsDivineServant



Series: Light Novels [1]
Category: Original Work, Terminator (Movies), 더 게이머 | The Gamer (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Main Heroine, Bamf Main Character, Boat Boy, Bugged MC, Contestants, Delta Anti-Terror Task Force, F/M, Fluff and Smut Maybe, Gambling, I forgot to put that tag there so i put it here, I know nothing about guns, I will add more characters and tags as I go, If I think I wrote them good, If some details are wrong please points them out, Let there be VIOLENCE, Movie Characters, Movie worlds, Movie: Terminator (1984), Multi, Murder, Near Death, Nightmare Realm, Not Beta Read, Parody, Pre-Cannon Movie Events, Pre-Canon: Terminator, Romantic Subplot, Sailor Boy MC, Side Quests, Tanky MC, The Gamer Ability (The Gamer), This Is a Chinese Light Novel Translation, Time Convergance, Video Game Mechanics, World Hopping, can't die, like why wont he die, or history, or the nitty gritty details of movies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:09:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29536623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilithsDivineServant/pseuds/LilithsDivineServant
Summary: I traverse along the pathway of darkness and imagination…Entering the realm born by the human imagination…Challenging the magic of Harry Potter...Commanding the legendary Pirates of the Caribbean...Terminating the Strength of Terminators...Tearing apart the illusions of the Matrix...Virus' are my slaves...Endurance, my inheritance...Growing, hunting and evolving in the boundless universe...In a battle of demons, who can leave an immortal legacy?
Relationships: Original Male Character & Original Male Character, Original Male Character/Original Female Character
Series: Light Novels [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202081
Kudos: 2





	1. Return of the Hunters

**Author's Note:**

> This is not an original story I wrote
> 
> This is a translation of a Chinese light novel that I am posting here to let more people learn how great light novels can be
> 
> I am doing this in my free time and when I feel like it so there is no update schedule

In the dark of night, a storm was raging.

  
  
  


The violent waves of the sea crashed repeatedly upon the reef’s, threatening to destroy and devastate the land with each wave. A floating orange-coloured balloon was being tossed about violently by the winds, signifying that a hurricane was at hand. Even the sturdy pole, which the balloon is tied to, was rattling so heavily, that it seems as though it would break at any second.

Although terrible weather wasn’t common in this remote port of Si Qiao, it does occasionally happen 3-5 times a year. That was why the residents were not alarmed, locking themselves up in their wooden huts with a lighted lantern, while enjoying a meal of salted fish and sorghum wine and using basins to collect any water leaking through the cracks in the roof. Every time it happens, the blankets will also become wet and by just touching them, moisture could be felt.

Under this atmosphere, a campfire was burning within a tattered shack on the west of Si Qiao town. Within the shack was a mess of discarded rubber tires – the poor people could make these into cheap and effective rubber boats – and a group of 10 excited dark-skinned fishermen gathered around the fire. They were all approximately 20-30-year-old men and sitting amongst them a man with deep wrinkles, his beard had already turned grey and his handsome features concealed a hidden sorrow underneath. One look was enough to tell that this was a person who had submitted to his fate.

“Aiya, Aiya, about today’s happenings, Sanzi’s move’s definitely had their merits, but Sheyan’s move was the best!” 

The one speaking with rude hand gestures and spitting uncontrolled saliva was the man with a facial scar called Gao Qiang. However, it seemed that he had gained the approval of the surrounding men, as they nodded their heads while gazing with admiration at the man.

Another young man with a pair of thick eyebrows, with strong bulging muscles alongside a sturdy physique, sat to the side. Although he had an occasional arrogant look on his face, his gaze remained stable. He was sitting on a worn wooden bench, holding onto a broken bowl. The bowl contained scalding hot water, which required him to blow on it before drinking. Sheyan humbly smiled upon hearing his name without making any sound, as he nodded his head in gratitude and continued drinking his water.

“Sheyan‘s move was naturally undisputable, but I stabbed it nine times man, a full NINE times!” 

Another big-nosed man, looking in his prime, spoke up loudly as he stood, waving his hands frantically.

“Dammit, that bastard dragged on for 30 meters, another 10 meters and we would’ve been eaten out by the hurricane instead.”

In the corner, a dark and thin youth interrupted him with a laugh.

“Bro Dasi, this time’s fragrant cream yield is no less than 20 kg! Even if we can’t extract it all, we can still get at least 10 kg – this itself is a fortune already, didn’t you always want to refurbish your Fu Yuan(boat)? With this catch, you can refurbish it at least 10 times and still have some leftover cash to spend.

Dasi was that young man from before, hearing that, he could only give out an honest laugh, brimming with happiness. From birth, he has been raised by the sea, the seawater can be said to be a part of him already. In this lifetime, his boat could be considered his home. Because he adopted 2 orphans earlier on, he did not have time to find a wife and soon after he decided he didn’t need one. He used his entire life savings to buy this old boat even after gaining heavy criticism from others, after buying it he immediately refurbished the boat, and that is why up till now he had still not repaid all his debts.

If one’s prosperity were to be measured by one’s kindness and honesty, then Dasi would have been extremely wealthy by now. However, no matter how hard Dasi laboured, he could not escape his miserable life of poverty. However, no matter how cruel the heavens may be, eventually, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. When the Fu Yuan sailed the previous day, they encountered a lone fat headed beast.

The fat headed beast was a name commonly known to all fishermen in the surrounding areas, it was a sperm whale. It has a short and stubby body, coupled with clumsy movements, and a weird appearance as though it has a heavier head than the body, if one were to compare it to something, a million times magnified tadpole would fit the description. The head itself is like a gigantic box, taking up to a quarter or third of its entire size. Its nose is special though, only the left nostril is clear, while the right is blocked, giving an angle of 45 degrees to the front-left when it ejects breathing mist. Experienced fishermen would be able to find traces of a sperm whale through its breathing mist. However, after decades of hunting, the population of sperm whales has been reduced to hundreds across the entire south china sea. Over the past 5 years, there has been news of only 3 fat headed beast being hunted, and its rarity can only be imagined at the present.

However, this time the ones who discovered the lone fat headed beast were Dasi and his band of dark-skinned brothers. The younger men would address Dasi as “Uncle Dasi”. In fact, with the layout of their old boat, Fu Yuan, they couldn’t have been able to capture this beast. Fortunately, Fourth uncle raised 3 capable and intelligent orphans, who previously found a discarded spear gun at a dump at the pier and made some adjustments to it, and they managed to restore it to a usable condition. Initially, they wanted to try out their skills at the shark-infested south china sea, how would they have imagined encountering an alone big-headed beast.

Soon after that followed a round of intense and persistent chasing.

Even the boat, Fu Yuan, seemed determined to seize this rare opportunity given by heaven. Despite the warnings of a typhoon, it desperately held on to this 10 meters long sperm whale! Apart from fourth uncle, nobody else had experienced hunting a whale on the boat, before in addition to the semi-working state of their recently retrieved spear gun. In the raging storms, they failed to hit even after four attempts, alarming the beast causing it to begin submerging deeper underwater.

Then, one of Dasi’s adopted kids, Sheyan, stood up, his body swaying vigorously in the wind like leaves on a tree. Holding the spear gun firmly in his hands, he aimed steadily at his target for a full ten seconds, and at the most desperate of times, he fired a shot.

This one-shot ripped through the sperm whale with great ferocity.

In its dying moments, bearing the intense pain, the sperm whale dragged on for another entire 30 meters, causing the ocean to turn red throughout it’s struggling journey. In the end, it became a helpless human treasure, as the old boat, Fu Yuan, miraculously returned to Si Qiao Port right before the hurricane struck. For sperm whales, although their meat, bones and oil were expensive, the most valuable was their ‘fragrant cream’ originating from their intestines. This item, commonly known to local fishermen, when it was dried up will become the famously known substance ambergris (A wax-like substance used for making perfumes).

The sperm whale’s primary food is cuttlefish and octopus, after consuming it, it will not be able to digest the sharp tip of the shell and the inner round bone of its meal. Because of this, the large intestine or rectum of the whale will be infected with a disease, which in turn will result in the formation of greyish or black secretions in the small intestine. Subsequently, the secretion forms a thick dark matter stored in the colon/rectum, and by removing the unpleasant smell and adding some perfumes over time, it will form this so-called ambergris.

The ambergris contains 25 elements, which are extremely valuable in retaining the fragrance of perfumes for a long time. It can also be used as a valuable medicine. Dasi’s prized sperm whale was 10 meters long, which can be considered slightly below average. However, the ambergris can still be sold for a large sum of money.

Thus, the band got together to celebrate, not knowing it was late at night. They had been toiling away at sea for about half a month, and right before the hurricane struck, they made it back to Si Qiao Port. The hunting crew immediately felt fatigued after their momentary period of excitement. The torrential rains of the hurricane were predicted to stop only tomorrow afternoon. Dasi was in his hut, laying his bed out on the floor. These fishermen were used to toiling in the sea and did not feel indifferent. Instead, Sanzi and Sheyan had left for their house. At the Ma Zhu temple, north of Si Qiao town, they were busy repairing a shed. It was considered their private past-time, even though the storm was heavy, and the distance between their town and here was not short.

As the two pushed open the door made up of nailed wooden planks, a strong and cold wind along with the torrential rain barged in, leaving them with a feeling of having just fought a cold war. In that weather, even the people surrounding a fire have lied down and begun groaning and complaining. Sheyan and Sanzi, with a cloth draped across their foreheads, we’re struggling to push the door back. At this moment, Fourth uncle hurriedly rushed over to deliver umbrellas and escort them back home.

Si Qiao was a small town, which was not even recognized on the world map.

Its specific location was at a little bay south of the border city of Fang Cheng port in Guang Xi, which can be seen from West Vietnam with the naked eye. Administratively, it was so secluded that it was, apparently, unknown to the outer world. Therefore this isolation had given way to a series of smuggling, trading, and thieving activities. The people there all belonged to the grey area of the industry, in the eyes of the law.

The reason the honest Dasi chose to settle in this place was that the boat, Fu Yuan, 

was a stolen item, and they had no means of paying heavy taxes. Sheyan had already seen how high the tax bills were, which included financial, tax, business, border security, health, government, fishing management companies, village living, etc. However, over here, one only needed to pay protection fees to the ‘big brother’, Huashan Fei.

Due to the threat and pressure from a top authority, Si Qiao construction uses relatively inexpensive low-quality materials to construct their buildings, which caused an architectural thorn in the ass for the people living an illegal life there. Sheyan was already 19 years old, he was older than Sanzi by a few months, and had been working for acquaintances of Fourth Uncle since the age of 14. Because of his composed way of doing things, he had constantly earned the trust and praises of others. At a young age, his reputation had already spread across the entire port as one, whose knowledge and character was second to none.


	2. Living with great joy, dying without regrets!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncle Dashi was his father in everything except blood, but even that won't stop him from doing his best to repay dashi, even if he has to pay with his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I looked at the work I did with the first chapter and have decided to clean my act up a bit and do better with the way I structured these chapters
> 
> I will be trying to improve the way it is presented next chapter and when I feel like I got the hang of it I will come back to this

**Chapter Two**

A year ago, after Dasi bought the old boat, Fu Yuan, Sheyan had immediately left his current job to return to assist Dasi without hesitation. At that time, he was already a second in command on a 500-ton cargo ship from Panama, and the captain was going to retire in a year. Even after much persuasion from the captain, Sheyan remained firm and returned to Si Qiao and to the tattered and old boat, Fu Yuan, to be an ordinary fisherman. He even used his earnings to pay off Dasi’s debts, and the small shed that he and Sanzi lived in was built from what was left of it.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even after walking for a short while, his shoes have been soaked with ice-cold mud, giving off a chilling to the bones feeling and a squishy sound with each step making it extremely uncomfortable. Upon reaching their shared hut, he did not look back, offering just a small wave of his handkerchief as a small greeting. He then stretched his back as he pushed open the door and entered the hut.

As Sheyan was about to retire to his room, the house door swung open as a wet headed Sanzi emerged with an envious and respectful look on his face.

“Bro Yan, do you remember when we were caught by the waves as tall as a few meters that even Uncle Dasi and Uncle Fa couldn’t do anything? how did you manage to strike the fat headed beast with such precision?”

Although Sanzi was younger than Sheyan by a few months, his way of thinking, as well as his experience, could not be compared to the Sheyan who laboured out in the world for 5 years. It wasn’t even a close fight. That is why he had always been respectful, even idolizing his foster brother Sheyan. Upon hearing this, Sheyan gives off a slight laugh as he squinted his eyes.

“I only aimed blindly, and got lucky.”

Sheyan lit the lantern beside him and took out a dry handkerchief from his drenched coat to wipe his head. He had a height of about 1.8m, with a sturdy physique, thick black brows, and beneath his tight vest was the bulging outline of his chest muscles combined with his years at sea gave him a healthy cinnamon-like complexion. With neat and tidy hair coupled with his sharp brows, gave him the impression of a high-quality fitness trainer. However the stern look from his naturally parched lips and cold gaze made people want to stay a thousand miles away from him.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking at their shed objectively, it was an extremely simple hut measuring around 80 square meters, made out of random scrap and low-quality materials, even the interior contained nothing much. A small single bed, one washing bowl and a simple clothesline. However, a strangely warm feeling permeated the hut, a feeling of home which couldn’t have ever been replicated by a 5-star hotel.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The only decoration was a small picture atop the bed frame. The picture frame had already faded to a yellowish colour over time, and on it contained 3 people: Sheyan, Uncle Dasi, and Sanzi, the photo was taken before Sheyan left the Si Qiao to work. 

Looking at Uncle Dasi in the picture, there was a look of respect and admiration in Sheyan’s moist eyes. Uncle Dasi was an honest and simple man who painstakingly endured all hardships to raise him and Sanzi up. The greatest point was that he never once covered up their birth origin, and did not allow them to address him as Father. That was because, Dasi was a devout believer in Feng Shui (Geomancy), and upon having his fortune told that he would have a lonely life of hardships he refused to allow this ill fate to affect the two kids, preferring to grow old alone childless.

However, this only gave a noble but ignorant aura to the honourable and filial Dasi….

Thinking back about the past, Sheyan sighed. He was an extremely strong-willed person, ever since he came of age, he did not treat the parents who abandoned him with intense hatred but had great gratitude for Uncle Dasi. Although he addressed Dasi as an uncle, deep in his heart he treated him as a father. Posted upon his bed frame, was a paper written with straight characters – living with great joy, dying with no regrets! These words were seen from a tattered novel that Sheyan had read, he fell in love with the meaning of the words, and thus showcased it atop his bed frame.

After daydreaming while looking at the photo, Sheyan extinguished the lantern and slept. Despite the initial weariness, he soon fell into a deep sleep. In his heart, he harboured a certain uneasiness, as if something life-changing was about to happen.

Sheyan’s instincts had always been accurate, this was why he was often praised by others as he could often pinpoint the root of a problem and come up with a solution. People rarely bet against him as he often miraculously triumphed even without the upper hand at the start. Beforehand Sanzi questioned Sheyan how he could slaughter the fat headed beast even in the raging storm it was because Sheyan was operating on his extremely keen instincts.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pouring rain consistently hammered away against the rooftop as Sheyan kept tossing and turning in bed. He suddenly sat up and lit up the lantern. Unintentionally, he caught a glimpse of something red in the opposite mirror. Lowering his head, he shockingly discovered several red-crossed scars across his chest as though someone had clawed and grabbed at him. After feeling it, he realized it wasn’t painful and therefore put it in the back of his mind.

At this time, Sheyan felt thirsty, he went to grab a cup of water, while humming to himself, he suddenly noticed a splashing water sound coming from something other than himself. This irregular splashing sound sounded like someone was intensely struggling inside the mud. In a matter of seconds, the sound of banging on Sheyan’s door echoed throughout the hut, followed by panicky coarse unclear shoutings.

“Coming!” Sheyan’s was heart trembling slightly, charging to open his door. As the door smashed open, the cold outer winds rushed in. Suddenly a hand drenched in blood, shot out grabbing the door frame tightly. Using his full strength, a person covered in blood and mud entered. It was the one who lived with Uncle Dasi, Gao Qiang! Sheyan tried to support him but this was in vain as Gao Qiang collapsed onto the ground, clutching tightly onto Sheyan’s leg with both arms, he wailed in despair.

“Brother Yan, it’s a disaster!”

Sheyan just raised his sharp, pitch-black brows, but in his heart, he felt a slight deja vu: Something was happening. The uneasiness he felt before came back. Although his heart was in chaos, he calmly replied loudly.

“What happened?”

“It’s Uncle Fa, that bastard! Uncle Dasi wanted to use the money earned from the fragrant cream to pass down to you and Sanzi as inheritance, but when everyone was asleep he secretly went to find Huashan Fei (Huashan is the Mafia dude from chapter 1) and sold everything.  **An entire 9 Kg of fragrant cream** !! But Huashan Fei only paid him a  **hundred dollars** !”

Upon hearing the name “Huashan Fei”, Sheyan’s heart sank. That punk could be said to be the ruler of Si Qiao town, and everyone with status paid him protection fees. He would engage in illegal trade, smuggling and drug peddling, while still running a legal business upfront, having tens of bodyguards around him. There were even rumours of him being the backbone of the infamous 3rd ranked ghost clan in Vietnam and was a capable subordinate of the clan head known as the Black Devil. Once he set his sights on the ambergris, even if one’s teeth all fell out and stomach was full of blood, one still had to suck it in.

Gao Qiang continued to struggle and even had to swallow his saliva, as he continued wailing.

“No matter how unwilling Uncle Dasi is, he could only let Huashan Fei have his way. At least, Huashan Fei gave some face by proclaiming that Dasi did not need to pay protection fees anymore. However, I could never bottle up such unfairness, cursing to myself in anger and was overheard by someone alongside Huashan Fei, Xide. Such terrible luck! This unknown fella was so strange, even Huashan Fei had to show face to him. Mercilessly, in addition to the bastard Uncle Fa adding oil to the fire with his unnecessary comments, Xide demanded to burn the boat, Fu Yuan!”

If one wasn’t raised by the seaside, it was impossible to understand the deep relationship fishermen had with his boat. They practically grew up alongside their boat, and the boat would become their second home, even spending more time on it than on their family. Under this kind of circumstance, the boat had naturally become a part of the fishermen, even upon death would the fishermen request his coffin to be shaped like their boats.

To Uncle Dasi, his feelings toward Fu Yuan have already far exceeded the life savings he used to buy the boat. If Xide burned that boat, he would most likely offer up his own life.

After hearing this, the wrinkles on Sheyan’s forehead tensed up. Gao Qiao continued with tears in his eyes.

“After hearing this, I could not control myself anymore and impulsively fought him head-on. Huashan Fei immediately signalled to his underlings and in the end…. Hais! That coward Xide was scared stiff, and could only hide behind others barking like a mad dog. After I fled, I could hear him shouting to burn Uncle Dasi along with his boat. One of the neighbour, Mr Gui, wanted to step in to mediate but ended up with 7 fewer teeth with one blow from Huashan Fei to the mouth. Brother Yan what should we do?!”

The Mr Gui Gao Qiang was speaking about was quite an accomplished person in Si Qiao, and was even on good terms with Huashan Fei, but even he was still reduced to such a state. Dasi’s fate was now an unimaginable one, yet outwardly Sheyan remained composed. 

He first treated Gao Qiang’s shoulder and provided him with new dry clothes, lighting a cigarette in his mouth he calmly declared.

“Swiftly notify Sanzi, the both of you have to immediately report everything to the governor!”

Ever since Gao Qiang arrived, his body had been trembling uncontrollably as though he was cold or extremely fearful. However, after hearing the resolution within Sheyan’s steady voice, he summoned up his courage, sucked in his chest and took in a deep breath, responding.

“Alright Brother Yan, I’ll go immediately.”

Suddenly, he realized something and started panicking as he spoke.

“What about you Brother Yan, aren’t you coming with us?”

Sheyan calmly replied to Gao Qiang’s question.

“I will never allow Uncle Dasi and his boat to be burned without intervening. Huashan Fei had collected thousands in protection fees every year from us, yet he robbed us of the fragrant cream, I will go and reason it out with him! After speaking with him, this mess should be settled, hurry along, if anything bad happens to me, I will have to rely on you guys to rescue us.”

After hearing this, Gao Qiang found it logical enough, being someone without much of a plan himself could only nod his head and set off to find Sanzi. Sheyan waited for him to leave, with a grim look in his eyes retrieved a sharpened knife from behind the door.

This knife was used to kill huge fish and cut them up, it was approximately a foot in length, and was made with scrap metals along with Sheyan’s persistent efforts of shaping the knife. The pitch-black knife shimmered in the moonlight giving off a threatening cold aura, as Sheyan wiped it with a cloth in preparation for its inevitable usage.

Sheyan only wanted to trick Gao Qiang and Sanzi away, because he already knew this was a matter with the utmost complications. The injured Xide is the infamous Black Devil’s son! The only negotiable method is with this knife! 

Although Uncle Dasi was not his blood father, the bonds between them are so strong that to give his life for him, would be an honour that would not allow him to look back!

**_Living with great joy, dying without regrets!_ **


	3. In Blood, Anger and Steel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a cold sharp blade covered in Blood
> 
> A heart brimming with pure blazing Anger
> 
> And the strength, willpower and determination of Steel
> 
> Nothing will block his way if he has anything to say bout it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this should be quite a bit better than the previous chapters but if there is something that isn't quite right please comment or message me about it

A year ago, after Dasi bought the old boat, Fu Yuan, Sheyan had immediately left his current job to return to assist Dasi without hesitation. At that time, he was already a second in command on a 500-ton cargo ship from Panama, and the captain was going to retire in a year. Even after much persuasion from the captain, Sheyan remained firm and returned to Si Qiao and to the tattered and old boat, Fu Yuan, to be an ordinary fisherman. He even used his earnings to pay off Dasi’s debts, and the small shed that he and Sanzi lived in was built from what was left of it.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even after walking for a short while, his shoes have been soaked with ice-cold mud, giving off a chilling to the bones feeling and a squishy sound with each step making it extremely uncomfortable. Upon reaching their shared hut, he did not look back, offering just a small wave of his handkerchief as a small greeting. He then stretched his back as he pushed open the door and entered the hut.

As Sheyan was about to retire to his room, the house door swung open as a wet headed Sanzi emerged with an envious and respectful look on his face.

“Bro Yan, do you remember when we were caught by the waves as tall as a few meters that even Uncle Dasi and Uncle Fa couldn’t do anything? how did you manage to strike the fat headed beast with such precision?”

Although Sanzi was younger than Sheyan by a few months, his way of thinking, as well as his experience, could not be compared to the Sheyan who laboured out in the world for 5 years. It wasn’t even a close fight. That is why he had always been respectful, even idolizing his foster brother Sheyan. Upon hearing this, Sheyan gives off a slight laugh as he squinted his eyes.

“I only aimed blindly, and got lucky.”

Sheyan lit the lantern beside him and took out a dry handkerchief from his drenched coat to wipe his head. He had a height of about 1.8m, with a sturdy physique, thick black brows, and beneath his tight vest was the bulging outline of his chest muscles combined with his years at sea gave him a healthy cinnamon-like complexion. With neat and tidy hair coupled with his sharp brows, gave him the impression of a high-quality fitness trainer. However the stern look from his naturally arched lips and cold gaze made people want to stay a thousand miles away from him.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking at their shed objectively, it was an extremely simple hut measuring around 80 square meters, made out of random scrap and low-quality materials, even the interior contained nothing much. A small single bed, one washing bowl and a simple clothesline. However, a strangely warm feeling permeated the hut, a feeling of home which couldn’t have ever been replicated by a 5-star hotel.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The only decoration was a small picture atop the bed frame. The picture frame had already faded to a yellowish colour over time, and on it contained 3 people: Sheyan, Uncle Dasi, and Sanzi, the photo was taken before Sheyan left the Si Qiao to work. 

Looking at Uncle Dasi in the picture, there was a look of respect and admiration in Sheyan’s moist eyes. Uncle Dasi was an honest and simple man who painstakingly endured all hardships to raise him and Sanzi up. The greatest point was that he never once covered up their birth origin, and did not allow them to address him as Father. That was because, Dasi was a devout believer in Feng Shui (Geomancy), and upon having his fortune told that he would have a lonely life of hardships he refused to allow this ill fate to affect the two kids, preferring to grow old alone childless.

However, this only gave a noble but ignorant aura to the honourable and filial Dasi….

Thinking back about the past, Sheyan sighed. He was an extremely strong-willed person, ever since he came of age, he did not treat the parents who abandoned him with intense hatred but had great gratitude for Uncle Dasi. Although he addressed Dasi as an uncle, deep in his heart he treated him as a father. Posted upon his bed frame, was a paper written with straight characters – living with great joy, dying with no regrets! These words were seen from a tattered novel that Sheyan had read, he fell in love with the meaning of the words, and thus showcased it atop his bed frame.

After daydreaming while looking at the photo, Sheyan extinguished the lantern and slept. Despite the initial weariness, he soon fell into a deep sleep. In his heart, he harboured a certain uneasiness, as if something life-changing was about to happen.

Sheyan’s instincts had always been accurate, this was why he was often praised by others as he could often pinpoint the root of a problem and come up with a solution. People rarely bet against him as he often miraculously triumphed even without the upper hand at the start. Beforehand Sanzi questioned Sheyan how he could slaughter the fat headed beast even in the raging storm it was because Sheyan was operating on his extremely keen instincts.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pouring rain consistently hammered away against the rooftop as Sheyan kept tossing and turning in bed. He suddenly sat up and lit up the lantern. Unintentionally, he caught a glimpse of something red in the opposite mirror. Lowering his head, he shockingly discovered several red-crossed scars across his chest as though someone had clawed and grabbed at him. After feeling it, he realized it wasn’t painful and therefore put it in the back of his mind.

At this time, Sheyan felt thirsty, he went to grab a cup of water, while humming to himself, he suddenly noticed a splashing water sound coming from something other than himself. This irregular splashing sound sounded like someone was intensely struggling inside the mud. In a matter of seconds, the sound of banging on Sheyan’s door echoed throughout the hut, followed by panicky coarse unclear shoutings.

“Coming!” Sheyan’s was heart trembling slightly, charging to open his door. As the door smashed open, the cold outer winds rushed in. Suddenly a hand drenched in blood, shot out grabbing the door frame tightly. Using his full strength, a person covered in blood and mud entered. It was the one who lived with Uncle Dasi, Gao Qiang! Sheyan tried to support him but this was in vain as Gao Qiang collapsed onto the ground, clutching tightly onto Sheyan’s leg with both arms, he wailed in despair.

“Brother Yan, it’s a disaster!”

Sheyan just raised his sharp, pitch-black brows, but in his heart, he felt a slight deja vu: Something was happening. The uneasiness he felt before came back. Although his heart was in chaos, he calmly replied loudly.

“What happened?”

“It’s Uncle Fa, that bastard! Uncle Dasi wanted to use the money earned from the fragrant cream to pass down to you and Sanzi as inheritance, but when everyone was asleep he secretly went to find Huashan Fei (Huashan is the Mafia dude from chapter 1) and sold everything.  **An entire 9 Kg of fragrant cream** !! But Huashan Fei only paid him a  **hundred dollars** !”

Upon hearing the name “Huashan Fei”, Sheyan’s heart sank. That punk could be said to be the ruler of Si Qiao town, and everyone with status paid him protection fees. He would engage in illegal trade, smuggling and drug peddling, while still running a legal business upfront, having tens of bodyguards around him. There were even rumours of him being the backbone of the infamous 3rd ranked ghost clan in Vietnam and was a capable subordinate of the clan head known as the Black Devil. Once he set his sights on the ambergris, even if one’s teeth all fell out and stomach was full of blood, one still had to suck it in.

Gao Qiang continued to struggle and even had to swallow his saliva, as he continued wailing.

“No matter how unwilling Uncle Dasi is, he could only let Huashan Fei have his way. At least, Huashan Fei gave some face by proclaiming that Dasi did not need to pay protection fees anymore. However, I could never bottle up such unfairness, cursing to myself in anger and was overheard by someone alongside Huashan Fei, Xide. Such terrible luck! This unknown fella was so strange, even Huashan Fei had to show face to him. Mercilessly, in addition to the bastard Uncle Fa adding oil to the fire with his unnecessary comments, Xide demanded to burn the boat, Fu Yuan!”

If one wasn’t raised by the seaside, it was impossible to understand the deep relationship a fisherman had with his boat. They practically grew up alongside their boat, and the boat would become their second home, even spending more time on it than on their family. Under this kind of circumstance, the boat had naturally become a part of the fishermen, even upon death would the fishermen request his coffin to be shaped like their boats.

To Uncle Dasi, his feelings toward Fu Yuan have already far exceeded the life savings he used to buy the boat. If Xide burned that boat, he would most likely offer up his own life.

After hearing this, the wrinkles on Sheyan’s forehead tensed up. Gao Qiao continued with tears in his eyes.

“After hearing this, I could not control myself anymore and impulsively fought him head-on. Huashan Fei immediately signalled to his underlings and in the end…. Hais! That coward Xide was scared stiff, and could only hide behind others barking like a mad dog. After I fled, I could hear him shouting to burn Uncle Dasi along with his boat. One of the neighbour, Mr Gui, wanted to step in to mediate but ended up with 7 fewer teeth with one blow from Huashan Fei to the mouth. Brother Yan what should we do?!”

The Mr Gui Gao Qiang was speaking about was quite an accomplished person in Si Qiao, and was even on good terms with Huashan Fei, but even he was still reduced to such a state. Dasi’s fate was now an unimaginable one, yet outwardly Sheyan still remained composed. 

He first treated Gao Qiang’s shoulder and provided him with new dry clothes, lighting a cigarette in his mouth he calmly declared.

“Swiftly notify Sanzi, the both of you have to immediately report everything to the governor!”

Ever since Gao Qiang arrived, his body had been trembling uncontrollably as though he was cold or extremely fearful. However, after hearing the resolution within Sheyan’s steady voice, he summoned up his courage, sucked in his chest and took in a deep breath, responding back.

“Alright Brother Yan, I’ll go immediately.”

Suddenly, he realized something and started panicking as he spoke.

“What about you Brother Yan, aren’t you coming with us?”

Sheyan calmly replied to Gao Qiang’s question.

“I will never allow Uncle Dasi and his boat to be burned without intervening. Huashan Fei had collected thousands in protection fees every year from us, yet he robbed us of the fragrant cream, I will go and reason it out with him! After speaking with him, this mess should be settled, hurry along, if anything bad happens to me, I will have to rely on you guys to rescue us.”

After hearing this, Gao Qiang found it logical enough, being someone without much of a plan himself could only nod his head and set off to find Sanzi. Sheyan waited for him to leave, with a grim look in his eyes retrieved a sharpened knife from behind the door.

This knife was used to kill huge fish and cut them up, it was approximately a foot in length, and was made with scrap metals along with Sheyan’s persistent efforts of shaping the knife. The pitch-black knife shimmered in the moonlight giving off a threatening cold aura, as Sheyan wiped it with a cloth in preparation for its inevitable usage.

Sheyan only wanted to trick Gao Qiang and Sanzi away, because he already knew this was a matter with the utmost complications. The injured Xide is the infamous Black Devil’s son! The only negotiable method is with this knife! 

Living with great joy, dying without regrets! Although Uncle Dasi was not his blood father, the bonds between them are so strong that to give his life for him, would be an honour that would not allow him to look back!


	4. An illusion of life and death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A heart-pumping illusion, created to save his family and friends
> 
> Sheyan's truly wondered if this plan of his would even work
> 
> All he could do was wait and see

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just to say that my next chapter might, emphasis on might, be shorter than normal as I haven't put as much time into translating the light novel this time as things have happened but the next chapter should have some more chunk to it

Although killing Xide was not part of his plan, Sheyan did not feel like he had reached a dead end. Xide’s death was without a doubt bad news, but Huashan Fei did not know about this yet. If he was able to utilize Xide’s corpse effectively, it would be able to yield the same results.

Although Scarface had fled, he had sustained a great number of injuries. The journey from here to the port is considerably far, even if Huashan Fei had received the news and rushed over, there was still adequate time to prepare for his next step.

After calming down, Sheyan waddled over to the nearby bathroom to wash his face, proceeding to clean his gunshot wound before finally wrapping it up simply with a cloth. Sheyan retrieved several clean and dry clothes which he put on Xide’s dead body and dragged his body out into the passenger seat of the minivan parked outside, adjusting his body perfectly into a sitting position.

Normally in Huashan Fei’s absence, White-dust Ming would bring some underlings out in this minivan to collect protection fees. That is why Sheyan was able to pinpoint the location of the vehicle keys which were on Ming’s body. He also brought the pistol as a precaution and set off for the port.

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Although Sheyan could still feel a searing pain from his wound, he felt powerful, as though a hidden strength was awakening from within him. As he was reflecting on what had happened, he was actually unknowingly enjoying the feeling of strength. That sort of feeling of pure ecstasy when engaging in a random fistfight, that feeling of thrill when holding life in his hand, the lingering smell of blood within his nostrils… he suddenly had a new  **_insatiable thirst_ ** within him! Having the ability to  _ control _ death, was what someone’s life goal  **_should be!_ **

In the moments after killing Xide, Sheyan felt as though he was living his life to the fullest.

This feeling was much better than having an orgasm or taking in a deep puff of a cigar!!

“Damn it, why do I feel like I’m becoming a psychotic sadist?” Sheyan bitterly laughed, then shook off that notion. Focusing once again, he continued driving towards the port.

After driving out for 50 meters, Sheyan could see Scarface’s body lying motionless on the road, as the flooded road had already submerged half of his face. Even the clean wound across his neck had been washed to a sickening white, while his left hand was still clutching onto his neck. Strictly speaking, Sheyan’s strike was only capable of inflicting heavy damage but was not a fatal one. However, the terrified Scarface struggled and fled leading him to lose excessive amounts of blood, eventually causing his death.

Looking at Scarface’s body, Sheyan heaved a sigh of relief. This meant that Huashan Fei had no clue his house was attacked, making it easier for Sheyan to construct his plan. An unprepared and unknowing Huashan Fei was definitely easier for Sheyan to achieve victory against.

When Huashan Fei witnessed this familiar white coloured minivan driving in amidst the thunderstorm, he was extremely startled. Sheyan parked the vehicle 70 meters away from him, the light within the van was dimly lit. Sheyan placed his knife across the neck of Xide’s corpse, biting his teeth before he shouted out.

“Huashan Fei! Do you want me to kill Xide or not!?”

Huashan Fei’s pupils shrank, as a fiery rage started to soar within him! His status was like an emperor in the small town of Si Qiao, having the primary say in everything, nobody had dared threaten him before. However, he understood, if Xide died in his territory, he would definitely not be spared when that old bastard ‘Black Devil’ decides to unleash his wrath of vengeance. That is why Huashan Fei lowered his pride and spoke.

“What do you want from me?”

At the same time, a burning passion was swirling within Sheyan, even his gaze held a crazy berserk kind of look because he had seen Uncle Dasi.

Uncle Dasi was currently bound up in front of him.

Dasi’s face was pale, and he had already fainted. Blood drenched his hands, as his left hand was broken beyond recognition, worse yet, his right hand was left with only 3 fingers! Beside him was a bowl with blood and floating inside the blood was actually Dasi’s fingers!

**_‘HUA! SHAN! FEI!’_ ** Each word that made Huashan Fei’s name echo loudly through his mind and although he had already prepared in his heart beforehand, Sheyan still had to take deep breaths as he kept reminding himself to stay calm. However, his facial muscles were twitching uncontrollably, and the veins inside his eyes had bulged, giving him a ruthless and scary bloodshot look. He raised his eyebrows and coldly laughed out.

“What do you think, Huashan Fei. You wanted to dispose of my entire family, then don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

At this point in time at a nearby hut, a door swung open. Originally Gao Qiang had been tricked away, but here he was with Sanzi being dragged out of the hut. The two of them had been beaten up to plum with bruises all over their faces. Upon seeing Sheyan, they both shouted out in unison:

“Brother Yan!”

Huashan Fei’s crafty gaze fell upon Sheyan. Right now, the rain was pouring heavily, while the van was only dimly lit, under this low vision he thought Xide had only fainted, never expecting that Sheyan would greet him with a lifeless corpse! 

Huashan Fei’s long-standing tyranny at the top was also because of years of struggling and fighting, thus he knew that today’s matter would not be easily dropped by Sheyan and that Sheyan’s goal was to ensure the safety of his people. Therefore, with a flick of his hand, he signalled his underlings to surround the people nearby coercing them together with the tip of their knives, thereby, pressuring Sheyan.

Faced with such a situation, Sheyan squinted his eyes, his lips formed into a grin. Upfront, he was holding a knife to Xide’s throat, but beneath, his left leg was putting in great effort to support Xide’s lifeless heavy body. Sheyan then shouted out.

“Huashan Fei, I have already inflicted a mortal knife wound to his chest, his condition is extremely bad now. If you insist on wasting time, I am afraid he won’t have much time left. How would you explain that to Black Devil?!”

Huashan Fei remained emotionless, however, his left hand that was gripping onto a chopper had already turned ghastly white, his anger had already reached a boiling point but without changing his tone he coldly spoke up.

“Then stop with the bullshit! Layout your terms!”

Sheyan took a long hard look at the far away from Uncle Dasi, looking at his old and haggard complexion it stirred his heart as he continued:

“Let them go, I will stay. When they are all safe will I will hand Xide over.”

Huashan Fei let out a mocking laugh:

“You take me for a fool? After they leave you would immediately flee in the van then how would I chase you?”

Sheyan bluntly spoke out:

“Then I will leave the vehicle, is that enough?”

Huashan Fei’s expression changed. Sheyan then nastily gave Xide a kick letting his body violent shiver, then lowering the knife from his throat. This action looked as if Sheyan had knocked Xide unconscious and laid him down on the seat causing Huashan Fei’s anger to intensify as he felt the increasing pressure of the situation.

“Okay!”

He proceeded to signal to his underlings with his hand:

“Release them!”

Huashan Fei’s underlings cursed while they cleared up an opening, letting the people within their control slowly crawl out. Sheyan’s left hand clutched tightly at his chest, as he proceeded to leave the minivan. He leaned against the vehicle while his lower body was covered by the van’s door. Huashan Fei shot an icy cold look toward one of his underlings beside him. That underling was actually in possession of a gun, however, when he saw a similar gun lodged firmly in Sheyan’s grip and glancing towards the “fainted” Xide he did not dare to risk making a move.

The people being released retrieved the semi-conscious Dasi and made their way towards Sheyan. Sheyan’s heart was filled with great anxiety because once they got closer to him, some would realize that Xide was actually a cold and lifeless corpse. 

In this case, it was extremely hard to predict their reaction which may influence the outcome greatly. Although this mini-van was able to contain the eight rescued personnel, however, its speed with the entire load was still unknown. The entirety of Si Qiao did not only contain this one vehicle, if Huashan Fei were to pursue them, then it would be a calamity for everyone here.

“Don’t come here! Board Fu Yuan!” Sheyan shouted toward the fishermen already a mere 20 meters away. After listening to Sheyan’s shouting, Huashan’s expression turned dark. He had the common thinking that if they escaped in the mini-van, he was 100 per cent sure he could catch up to them. However, now with the huge storm brewing, if they took a boat out to sea, it would be extremely tedious and troublesome to search for such a small fishing boat.

However, the fishermen were already previously traumatized, as they ignored Sheyan and continue heading towards him. Sheyan gritted his teeth, and fired a shot into the air! The piercing sound of a gunshot penetrated into their souls waking them up as they heard Sheyan shouting again:

“Don’t come here! Board Fu Yuan!”

This time they heard Sheyan and they paused in hesitation, however, at this moment, Sanzi actually proclaimed out loud.

“Noo! Bro Yan, I will stick with you even in death!”

With this loud proclamation, he greatly influenced the rest as they continued in unison, however, this only made Sheyan lose his mind even further. Normally such an act of courage would be fine but at that moment it was actually plain stupidity and folly, Sheyan wanted to smack Sanzi’s face. If he did not remain to watch over the situation, how would they all make it out alive? After all, the biggest lie of Xide’s death was yet to be exposed. At the point in time Sheyan became speechless, he knew Huashan Fei was extremely cunning, if he continued speaking, he risked getting himself exposed.

Just when Sheyan was at the brink of losing his mind, the bound up Dasi raised his head with great difficulty and looked toward Sheyan. Sheyan was now looking at Dasi, countless thoughts flashing through his mind. Dasi had treated him like a real son, looking at the greyish white hair atop his forehead, his bloody hands, his warm, kind gaze, Sheyan felt a bittersweet warmth as his tears poured out forcing him to close his eyes and shout.

“Just board Fu Yuan!”

Dasi could read the hidden melancholy beneath those words, as he fought to speak up.

“Listen to Ah Yan, let’s board Fu Yuan”

Although he spoke softly, it rang with resolute and decisiveness! Sanzi and Gaoqiang wanted to speak up, but upon looking directly at the murderous glare from Sheyan, they sucked back their words. The entire group then retreated toward the boat.

After such a twist in events, Huashan Fei started harbouring suspicions, he squinted his eyes to look inside the dimly lit van to observe Xide. Looking at what was unfolding in front of him, Sheyan’s heart skipped a beat, immediately reacting.

“Oh yeah, Huashan Fei, return to us the fragrant cream you stole!”

Using a hundred bucks to buy over 10 kg of fragrant cream was as good as stealing. Upon hearing Sheyan’s words, his state of mind relaxed a little, because there were only a handful of people in the world who valued one’s life over money. If Xide was dead, Sheyan would be hoping to leave the place as fast as possible, why would he still care about that fortune of fragrant cream. Huashan Fei glanced at Sheyan, he then signalled his underlings to bring out a huge bag filled with fragrant cream and teased Sheyan.

“You want this? … sure! But first, let me talk to Xide.”

Without hesitation, Sheyan replied:

“No problem! Xide, speak up!”

Currently, Sheyan was outside the mini-van while Xide’s body was sprawled over the driver and passenger seat, between them there was a small gap of 2 meters. Huashan Fei could observe Xide’s right hand trembling slightly as if he was summoning the strength to get up but still could not do it, as he continued laying down on the seat as though he fainted again.

At first, Huashan Fei was very suspicious of the Sheyan sitting in the driving seat, but right now there was a space of 2-3 meters, and even the car door separating then. Lowering his guard, he bitterly allowed Dasi and the gang to board the boat and leave.

Huashan Fei never expected that Sheyan had already taken this scenario into account. Before he arrived, he had tied two very fine strings onto the limbs of Xide’s corpse. With the low vision caused by the torrential rain, the dimly lit interior and the 70 meters distance between them, there was no chance Huashan Fei could see Sheyan utilizing the strings from outside the mini-van. Of course, the main reason for this optical illusion was still the mental delusion of Huashan Fei not expecting that Xide was actually dead. Even with the strange movements resulting from the string, one could only guess that it was because of his heavy injuries.

The people aboard the boat looked covered with bruises all over their body, but apart from Dasi, the rest only sustained superficial wounds. They have all been raised up by the sea since young, and in these desperate moments of fleeing, they rowed their hardest they could in their entire life as the boat disappeared into the endless sea.

Sheyan waited until the boat was no longer in sight, however, he never once took his gaze away from Huashan Fei and his men. After 10 minutes, Huashan Fei broke the silence.

“Okay, I’ve already released the people and gave you back your goods, isn’t it about time you release him?”

Sheyan’s mouth twitched a little, taking a deep breath he spoke:

“You and your men retreat first.”

While he was still talking, a strange chilling to the bone, hair rising sensation came over his entire body, especially his vest felt icy cold as though somebody pressed ice against his skin. Sheyan’s pupil contracted as he immediately threw himself forward. At this moment the piercing sound of a gunshot filled the air, as sparks emerged from the minivan’s front. Unknowing to Sheyan, one of Huashan Fei’s henchmen with the gun actually made a huge loop from the side to make it to the back of Sheyan. Under command, he fired at Sheyan, but at the critical moment, Sheyan actually miraculously dodged the bullet.

Sheyan heavily crashed into the mud, as a searing pain swarmed his entire body from the chest wound. The muddy waters were strangely refreshing, and it tasted bloody. Sheyan wrestled himself up from the ground, as he scrambled to take cover behind one of the surrounding huts. Panting, he struggled to make way, running clumsily in the direction of his own house.

In fact, when he decided to stay behind, Sheyan had already made reservations in his heart that he may not escape. However even a cricket would fight for his life, and Sheyan also realized the wound in his chest was not as bad as he imagined it to be and therefore clung on to his dear life. Although the way Sheyan was running was like an anxious stray dog, whenever he thought of what expression Huashan Fei would have when he saw Xide’s dead body, his heart would celebrate in delight which gave him move motivation to flee faster.

“You poor bastard! Stop! I will destroy you!”

“Lil’ fucking bastard! Keep running and I will kill your entire family!”

Because of his chest injury, his running speed has been affected. Hearing the heavy footsteps and incessant cursing from the thugs catching up to him, Sheyan suddenly stopped and turned around. He pulled out the gun he retrieved from Xide, took aim and fired!

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Truthfully, Sheyan’s marksmanship was extremely poor, after roaming the seas as a fisherman for 6-7 years, his knowledge of guns was fairly basic. He only knew how to reload and trigger fire the gun while not hurting himself, skill-wise he was far from praiseworthy. However, when the group of 3-4 thugs closed up to a close distance of about 70 meters, even a person spitting saliva would be able to accurately hit one of them.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of the gunshot rang, a faint green smoke faded into the pouring rain followed by a scream, two of the thugs collapsed into the muddy water. Their injuries were not very serious, one was shot in the leg the other bullet grazed against the cheek of the other thug. Although it was just superficial wounds, at first glance the wounds appeared to be very serious.

Especially the one with the cheek injury, his face was covered with fresh blood, he has also lost a few teeth as the blood-filled up his entire mouth, and he was screaming more miserably than a pig getting slaughtered. His surrounding friends, hearing this, all felt a fear in their heart that prompted them to retreat.

These two shots created lots of chaos and misgivings in the minds of the chasing men, as they slowed down not daring to be too impulsive. Although Huashan Fei put up a very lucrative bounty, they still needed their life to collect this bounty. Faced with this escaping crafty and merciless punk, he even dared to stab Black Devil’s son, it would not be worth it to lose their lives now. Anyway, he was gravely injured, letting him bleed out would be better.

As the people chasing developed this thought, Sheyan finally had a small breathing space. Looking down he knew he was left with two bullets and he gave off a bitter laugh as he continued running away. He was very clear right from the start, under this kind of hopelessly vile situation, even fleeing alone in that mini-van was courting death. Si Qiao town’s only proper road was poorly taken care of, full of potholes and mud often causing vehicles to break down. The motorbike behind Sanzi’s hut was his only means of escape! The sandy route along the beachside was in extremely terrible condition, and only a motorbike could easily manoeuvre around it. After driving for 5 km, one would be connected to the national highway leading to the prefectural city of Guangxi, when that happens freedom would be certain.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Keys, where are the keys?” Sheyan kicked open the door of Sanzi’s hut, as he was greeted by familiar pitch blackness. He took a few deep breaths as he made his way to Sanzi’s pillow reaching out for the keys underneath it. Going out through the back door, he pushed the motorbike out from under the shelter of a canopy, jumping on frantically as he slammed his foot down onto the pedal.

The chasing men looked at each other in dismay, two of Huashan Fei’s lackeys tried to intercept Sheyan with two iron rods. Without hesitation, Sheyan fired off his gun at the two men. Although the bullet failed to connect, it had caused the two guys to frantically take cover behind the hut.

One could say heaven was aiding Sheyan, Huashan Fei’s guns were all self-made without proper waterproof features, even in this heavy downpour, the gun could still fire off all its bullet. Looking at the back of the fleeing Sheyan on his motorbike, the men could not think of any solutions. At this moment, someone barged in clumsily, shouting at the top of his lungs carrying a tinge of sorrow as he screamed:

“Bro Xide was actually murdered by that poor bastard! On boss’s instructions, anyone who catches him gets five hundred thousand! Also applies to anyone who finds any clue on his whereabouts leading to his capture. Bastard! Prepare to collect your family’s dead bodies!”

Black Devil’s infamous name could even cause a small child to wail. The previous year while smuggling, he actually came into confrontation with Vietnam’s border troops, although he suffered a loss of over 30 men, he was able to sink one of his opponent’s vessel. Xide’s death in this area caused the hearts of many to worry, if they could not produce the culprit, Black Devil may certainly unleash his wrath on the entire town. This thought in addition to Huashan Fei’s generous bounty would lead one to work hard!

After hearing this proclamation, although Sheyan has already driven out of town in his motorbike, these hooligans suddenly started pursuing excitedly with a new motivation. A few of them went to fetch their nearby vehicles, determined to chase Sheyan to the ends of the earth!


	5. The Start of It All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A cruel stroke of fate and a seemingly desperate attempt to escape
> 
> Few things could turn Sheyan's situation around, the one that just so happened to appear?
> 
> Why of course the very thing that started Sheyan's true story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say other than the next chapter might be a bit more sloppy as it was quite difficult for me to find the right way to structure it

The motorbike engine rumbled louder and louder as it worked, as the black fumes from the exhaust dissipated into the rain. Sanzi’s motorbike was basically leftover goods, tossed around between many owners and finally passed to Sanzi for a dirt-cheap price. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The offshore road was extremely muddy, the bumpiness caused agonizing pain to Sheyan, as he pressed down on the pedal and bent down in pain. Listening to the rumbling of the old rusty motorbike, he feared that the engine may fail at any time.

Listening to the urgent cries and shouts from far behind, Sheyan could not help laughing out coldly. Huashan Fei should have figured out Xide was killed by now, he must surely be like an ant on a hotplate* (Chinese idiom meaning panicking frantically), his situation is no better than mine. Dying now is no big deal, to him Uncle Dasi, Sanzi and the rest had already escaped. However, Huashan Fei still had his entire family of old and young in town. That cruel and ruthless Black Devil would surely want something to vent his frustration on, Huashan Fei’s family would definitely be affected.

Quite a big group of men were chasing him, but Sheyan was not hasty in panicking. Right now, the people chasing were all fired up, over time their enthusiasm was sure to die off. After riding for 10 minutes, right ahead about 10 more meters lies the entrance to this small muddy dirt road, looking at his view, Sheyan heaved a sigh of relief and a smile escaped his cold expressionless face. Once on that dirt road, cars and runners will never be able to catch up to him. No matter how lousy this motorbike was, it was the king on the right terrain.

Suddenly, the motorbike gave off a loud choking cry, as the engine came to an abrupt stop. Sheyan’s eyes widened, feeling that this shocking downturn of events was extremely unfair and the sudden dead end when freedom was in sight. Sheyan suddenly halted, his seemingly hopeless chasers suddenly came to life as though they had just won a lottery.

Sheyan did not brood over his misfortune, or rather he did not have time to, discarding the motorbike he starting sprinting forward. At the same time, he continues to wield his pistol to strike fear and precaution into his chasers.

When his chasers finally caught up to him, Sheyan had already made it a few hundred meters into the muddy road of the national highway 703, clutching his stomach as he ran for his life. Fresh blood was dripping slowly from his wound, as it formed an obvious redding trail. His current goal was to make it to the gigantic construction site nearby.

Currently, a factory was being built, it’s the current state was at about the halfway mark, and construction had paused temporarily due to the typhoon. With such a huge mess of construction, it was extremely easy to hide. However, the main idea was that Sheyan had confidence in finding a vehicle or another motorbike here.

Bearing with the pain, Sheyan overturned part of the fencing and entered the site. Three of his chasers who had their own vehicles had already caught up nearby, they were following the red trail as they saw a small pool ending at the fencing. Excited at the thought of that 500 thousand just beyond the fence, they gave off a gleeful shout. Sheyan clutched his chest, as he staggered alongside the wall finally entering into one of the buildings under construction. Although he was currently forced into a corner, Sheyan’s gaze maintained a steady fierceness, deliberating for a while, he threw down his pistol and fled up the building.

Shortly after, Huashan Fei’s 3 underlings rushed in like a pack of hungry wolves. They quickly discovered the abandoned pistol, feeling their only threat eliminated they excitedly scampered up the building. However, upon reaching the second floor, excitement turned to worry. Exiting from the stairs, in front of them lay an extremely long corridor, with tens of side offices laced along the corridor. Even worse, they had no clue which floor Sheyan went to, and this was only the second floor! If they went to search all the rooms individually, nobody would be guarding the staircase, and Sheyan could easily escape if he was on another level. The safest way is to station 1 man to guard the staircase, while the other two proceed to search the rooms individually.

The crux of the problem was now choosing who was to stay at the staircase!

Although this could have been easily solved, Sheyan’s bounty was a hefty 500 thousand! The bastard not only sustained heavy injuries, but his only threatening weapon was now gone. Hence to the three men, the one that found him would surely be the receiving end of that 500 thousand bucks! Under these conditions, no one would be willing to stay back and disadvantage their chances.

The three looked at each other in frustration, they were lucky enough to find a vehicle, but the rest should be catching up by now. If they continued wasting time, their prize would be snatched by others. The three battered their eyes at each other, as one shouted out.

“Red you go to the fourth floor, I’ll take the third, the second is your Bingzai! Even if we go alone there is nothing to fear! How could we lose to an already half-dead brat? Let’s leave it to fate, there are still a couple of brothers behind us so there is no way he can slip out!”

As such, the three split up to search, and to Sheyan, the reason he discarded his pistol was for this very reason. Only by splitting them out was he able to give himself a chance to escape!

The place where Sheyan was currently hiding was the exact location Red was searching, the fourth floor!

This punk nicknamed Red was a compulsive gambler, his merits were being able to fight and taking risks, because he loved wearing red he got that nickname. Amongst the three, his greed for that 500 thousand was the greatest and he hurriedly climbed up to the fourth floor. Who would have known, there was actually a trail of fresh blood greeting him leading to one of the left rooms along the corridor. Without hesitation, he followed the trail like a mad dog.

The room could be seen clearly constructed by red bricks as it was not painted over yet, and cement and dirt covered the floor. Unsightly wires were hanging loose from the ceiling and a musty smell filled the air. The railings were yet to be constructed around the balcony, and only a safety net surrounded it.

Red suspiciously raised his head because the red trail strangely ended at the balcony and the balcony was still without railings. He could not see the entire balcony due to the uncomplete construction at the left, as the wall was still blocking the room and the balcony. From his view, it was as though Sheyan had jumped off the building after meeting a dead end. However, Red’s eyes flashed with an unbelieving look, knowing for sure that Sheyan would never commit suicide, but instead was hiding behind the balcony blind spot.

Creeping forward, he paused in front of the balcony, shouting out fiercely while wielding his steel rod, aiming to the left as he charged forward. However, he was taken aback as his steel rod crashed onto the empty left wall and he felt pain in his arms due to the impact. What greeted him was only a pair of shoes, mocking him.

Right at this moment, the pale-faced Sheyan still holding onto his stomach appeared behind Red, carrying a taunting look in his eyes, he lifted his left leg and furiously kicked the confused Red directly at his ass. This was a fourth-floor balcony without any safety features installed!

A loud sorrowful scream pierced the air followed by silence. Even with an ox-like build, Red fell to his death from this height. Using his blood, Sheyan created a fake trail and utilized the balcony blind spot to his advantage.

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For this own preparation, he gritted his teeth as he leapt and grabbed onto the loose wires and metal bars hanging from the ceiling. Lifting himself up, he rested at the top of the left wall. If this careless punk was able to see through the trap in this situation, Sheyan would be left speechless.

There is a deathly silence in the air, without hesitation, the other two stuck out their heads when they heard the scream and immediately hurried to the fourth floor. Following common sense, under the atmosphere of what had just happened, they would not stop to think upon seeing the trail of blood in the fourth-floor corridor. All their focus would be directed towards the blood trail and where it led to, Sheyan just needed to hide at the right side of the corridor, and wait for the perfect opportunity to escape down the building.

Following reasoning, this plan had a huge chance of success, especially now that Sheyan had managed to hide from the two others who rushed off in following the trail foolishly. However, something unexpected occurred. This was due to several factors, the building’s construction was still ongoing and was a safety hazard, also Sheyan had lost too much blood and he was in a frenzied state of mind. As Sheyan was desperately running down, he accidentally tripped over a jagged floor tiled and started tumbling down the stairs. The tile broke off and followed him crashing down on the floor as he broke into pieces with a loud “Pam!” While Sheyan was regaining back his focus and pulled himself up again, the two men awakened from their folly, started running back as they cursed.

“Dammit…” Sheyan coughed out a mouthful of blood as he gritted his teeth. He was extremely strong-willed, not knowing to give up until the very last second as he continued fleeing. He had a very straightforward look, frantically running without thinking, ahead of him was a flight of stairs that had not been renovated. His two persistent chasers cursed and chased, closing up the gap to just one storey level.

Although this flight of stairs was newly constructed it had its naked interior exposed, showing the fresh red bricks within, this gave the stairs a haunting ancient look as though it had been here for centuries. Losing so much blood caused dark spots to appear in Sheyan’s vision, pressing on he continued to run for his life, he was not willing to admit defeat! Inevitably, the condemning footsteps and curses from behind grew louder and louder.

“I don’t want to get caught, I can’t die here!” Sheyan’s heart imploded within. Unsure if it was because of overexertion, he started to feel his chest rapidly heating up, he would have torn off his shirt to take a look, if not for him needing to concentrate on running.

All of a sudden, as Sheyan was running down, his entire body came to a sudden halt. It was an extremely strange feeling, as though he was dropping down into a swimming pool from 30 meters high, and there was an invisible membrane covering the pool. However, there was nothing in his path, yet the feeling of knocking into something was very distinct! Because of this, the two men caught up to him and charged toward him; one locking onto his shoulders, and one wrapping around his waist! As the three of them tumbled down the stairs in a huge mess.

While they were tumbling down the stairs, Sheyan struck his head against the stairs causing his skull to crack beneath his brows, his face was covered with his blood but still, he never gave up. His gaze was murderous, pulling out his knife from his pants he was determined to struggle on till death! If he was to die today, he would definitely not die alone!

**_Living with great joy, Dying without regrets!_ **

However, Sheyan felt something was wrong because his surroundings were extremely still. There was no trace of panting, no cursing and shockingly no exchange of blows! Only his shoulders and legs were tightly constricted and there were no further movements! He swung his head around in a daze.

Looking at the two motionlessly rigid big men tightly holding onto him, it was as though a sudden layer of frost had encapsulated over them freezing them in place. Even their frenzied facial expressions were captured in the timelock. As Sheyan tried to break free at this moment, his chest suddenly emitted a scorching acute pain from within! Unable to bear the pain, he groaned out loud, trying his very best to press down on this strange excruciating pain, attempting to remove it. When Sheyan finally loosened his hand, he unconsciously looked down and there it was again! Another red tattoo-like scar on his chest!

Sheyan could not believe his eyes, he immediately ripped off his tattered clothing. He could see atop his very flesh, that bloody red tattoo started forming into very precise contours, eventually forming into an unknown symbol. The symbol appeared distinct and mysterious making absolutely no sense. Sheyan had already experienced many things in one night, but this event was simply out of this world.

Sheyan suddenly felt a frosty sensation chilling up his back, he turned around only to discover what was initially a flight of stairs had turned into a shroud of pitch blackness. Extending his hands to feel it, it felt like a formless cloud had decided to take up residence there. Breathing in deeply, looking down, he realized the entire flight of stairs has been enveloped by this darkness and this darkness continued to roll and expand itself growing larger by the second. Within it was a very faint hint of deep red giving off an extremely eerie feeling.

At this moment, the symbol started to flash brightly, immersing Sheyan in its bright radiance and as it wrapped around the other two men, they actually started to age rapidly! Initially two sturdy-looking men in their youth, yet in a matter of seconds was reduced to a rotting old age with white hair and no teeth. Yet in another few seconds, their flesh was reduced to dust and blown away, leaving only their dense white bones, and even their bones were dispersed into ashes shortly.

What kind of sorcery was this, degenerating the flesh and decaying the bones almost instantly! Only time, only time!

Is it possible that in this short moment, time was sped up by a thousand years? The flashing symbol atop Sheyan’s body was extremely mysterious, it could actually produce such a terrifying power to save him.

Before him, the darkness continued to swirl about infinitely as though it had been there, constantly circling the eerie deep redness in the centre. Sheyan could not understand why a wave of raging anger was suddenly welling up his heart as though something was stirring his soul and it felt strangely vital to him.

After he tore off his clothes, the sinister tattoo had been radiating non stop creating a formless aura around his body. Unable to control himself, Sheyan tightly clutched his fist and wildly screamed to the heavens.

That scream echoed loudly into the surroundings, the darkness violently swirled and suddenly dispersed exposing an enormous door beneath it. The door was made up of ordinary metal, it had the colour of flesh with numerous disorderly sharp teeth sticking out of it.

Suddenly a mysterious voice boomed:

“This is the nightmare realm! A mystical and mysterious place!”

“This place can satisfy your heart’s wishes, if you can pass the test given to you, it’s rewarding will be unimaginable!”

“However if you are fearful, then leave! If you want your heart’s desire, then step forward!”

“Regrets? Fear?” Sheyan twitched his thick black brows, laughing out loud as he took a big step towards the door without hesitation. His heart was experiencing unexplainable happiness, as though every pore on his body was twitching with excitement. After stepping nearer, he realized that the enormous sliding door was covered with bulging veins, as though it was made out of gigantic veins. From far it looked like metal, from near it actually contained characteristics of the human body!

Abruptly, Sheyan felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest, as an irresistible attraction forcefully sucked him in gradually from the front….

“Host’s physical condition: Spleen is semi ruptured, major blood loss, a total of 7 superficial wounds, normal current state of 40, restoring…. Restoration complete.”

“Current sample size of 6 399 people, this sums up the test for everyone who signed the contract, the next test will commence in 72 hours! Nightmare realm…. begin!”


	6. The Terminator World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new world met Sheyan alongside many interesting things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooh this took me a long while to deal with as I have been in a particularly bad depression mood, thankfully I got out of it and have now sent this

In a simple and sloppy looking room. The white bedsheets had turned yellowish, giving off a pungent smell. The surrounding furniture was simple and old, covered by a layer of dust, and the ceiling seemed particularly low. This combination gave off a pressuring feeling, leaving one unable to breathe properly. Atop the wall, an antique clock was showing 4:51 PM.

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“My wounds…. How is it they have completely vanished?”

Lying on the bed, Sheyan opened his eyes. He did not feel any urgency to get out of bed, but instead reflected on the recent happenings, and then unbuttoned his shirt to look at the mysterious mark on his chest then finally deciding to get out of bed.

He had always been composed and witty since young, and with his strength now restored, he appeared extremely calm not showing a hint of confusion from the recent strange events. Instead, he had a very smooth and natural expression, even a slight hint of excitement as though he had been here many times already.

The floor was in a mess with many ancient looking beer glasses and bottles lying around, the labels on these items were all written in English. Sheyan picked up a beer glass, glancing at the label which said: the Year 1984, Mirage Beer.

“This is?” Sheyan paused to think. Sheyan was a sociable person, making lots of friends during his time at sea, especially at the end when his status became higher, his circle of friends was naturally very broad.

One of his friends in the steel industry, William Musi, was an extremely wealthy and flaunting man, and his hobby was collecting bottles from famous beer. Before he had showcased his entire beer collection, no matter if it was an 1874 English beer bottle from the UK, or China’s number 1 beer bottle and even beer’s from Russia and Slovakia, he had it all. The value of all this could be said to be worth at least 10 million dollars.

This brand, Mirage beer was also part of his collection, because this branding was very prominent, earning its reputation as a super beer. Once it had dominated the American markets, however, it was in 1984 that Budweiser acquired it. Because the beer industry was booming then, beer bottle designs were trending, and even the Coca-Cola company copied its design.

In front of Sheyan was a newly produced tank of Mirage beer. Was he brought back to the 1984 era in America? The mysterious voice from before actually had such power to be able to bypass space and time? Then… what was the meaning of the test that the voice mentioned before?

Suddenly, a loud siren “DA DA DA DA… “ filled the peaceful room, this sound was coming from the table. Sheyan immediately stood up from his bed following the mysterious siren. He had already taken a few lives recently and was now overflowing with a baleful aura.

The sound originated from an old typewriter on the table, although nobody was using it, it operated by itself, as lines of ink one by one emerged from the paper underneath

‘Contract sample 1018, Congratulations on entering the nightmare realm.’

‘This is the variation that you will go through in the Nightmare realm – the Terminator world.’

‘This is your variation type of the Nightmare realm, if you have queries on this world, you can refer to the relevant materials beside you, take note: Under normal circumstances, this world has certain prerogatives.’

‘ **_WARNING:_ ** You can interact with the various characters, but you cannot tell them or use whatsoever methods to leak out knowledge or confidential secrets of this nightmare realm.’

‘ **_WARNING:_ ** You must complete the task given to you within 48 hours or there will be  **_consequences_ ** .’

The word consequences were bolded, as glaring as blood itself giving one an uneasy feeling as though it was an extreme taboo.

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‘Main Mission: Dispose of the Space-time convergence.’

‘Mission summary: Skynet has made preparations earlier to dispatch and send out the terminator with the plan of assassinating critical relevant characters in history. However, to activate time-travelling and send the terminator over, they must create an extremely stable space-time convergence in the present.’

‘Mission goals: Eliminate the Skynet’s space-time convergence in this world.’

‘Mission pointer: You may be attacked during this mission.’

‘Mission pointer: By accepting this mission, you will be bestowed with special capabilities, enabling you to penetrate through disguises and see the space-time convergence.

Pointer: You can achieve several milestones in this world (including other worlds beyond this).’

‘Efficient user: If you can accomplish this mission without killing any unrelated person right from the start of this mission until your last, (This excludes mission objectives of killing certain individuals, the rest are categorized as unrelated)’

‘Butcher: Accumulating a total of over 100 innocent lives killed in this terminator series. (This milestone can only be achieved through close-quarter combat, statistics will only count if you deal more than 50 damage points to each person)’

‘Machine predator: You must accumulate more than 3 terminator kills. (Your damage counter to the terminator must total up to more than 50 points)’

‘Love spark: Sarah Connor’s affection points to you must exceed 50.’

“Treacherous ally: You must kill 50 cops. (Your damage counter to each cop must exceed 50 points)’

‘XXXXXXXX’

‘XXXXXX’

‘Unable to view the remaining milestones… Power level is not adequate.’

‘Achieve the different milestones to unlock the relevant titles.’

‘Every contestant can have a title, and you can only wield one title at a time. The different title will invoke different special abilities, in most situations, you cannot change your title after entering a battlezone.’

‘ **_WARNING:_ ** After accepting this mission, you will face unimaginable dangers. Likewise, if you complete a dangerous mission, your rewards will naturally be greater.’

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Sheyan examined the paper repeatedly, carefully reading it 3 times, absorbing as much of the information into his brain as he could. Shutting his eyes to think, he turned to look at the side of the typewriter.

A magazine was placed over there.

The magazine looked extremely new, completely contrasting its ancient surroundings, with the words “TERMINATOR” written clearly at the front.

The magazine contained information on the world. Looking at his mission objectives, the item should be specially designed for them, which means if he lost it, there will not be a second copy.

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It was the year 2029 30th of July, 2:23 AM in the wee hours of the morning. The revolutionary army general John Connor led the Californian army to launch a fearsome attack against the base of Skynet. 31st July in the early morning, the revolutionary army suffered heavy losses as it marched against Skynet. Connor and the revolutionary army’s Kyle Reese disregarding their safety, courageously charged into the Nucleus zone. At this moment, Connor saw a T-800 robot suddenly vanished into a strange vortex.

After extensive investigations, Connor concluded that it was a time travel machine robot being sent back to 1984 to eliminate his very own mother, trying to rewrite the course of history by preventing Connor’s birth. Reese suddenly proclaimed courageously he was going to protect Connor, abandoning his safety, he jumped into the time vortex. Before he left he promised: “Trust me, I will be back!”

Two days later, Connor walked out of the base. On the fifth of August, the revolution proclaimed Reese as ”Missing.”

In the year 1987, on May 12, 1:52 AM, a T-800 robot appeared through a time vortex. 2:01 AM: Reese appeared through the time vortex. Because most of the information was burned during the war, Skynet was unable to find any information on Sarah Connor’s whereabouts. The two of them without a known destination begun looking for her. That day, the T-800 robot consecutively murdered two Sarahs, one called Sarah Anna Connor, the other was a called Sarah Louise Connor, however, both were the wrong woman.

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In the future, the killing machine was named: Terminator. The story begins from here….

Although the materials were not reliable, Sheyan had a basic understanding of the Terminator world. With the knowledge from all these materials, he could confirm one thing: He was sent back in time to 1984, the first destination of the terminator in the movies! His memories of how to use this information would be extremely advantageous.

Being very familiar with his mission, the words from the typewriter slowly faded away dissipating into the stale air. However, its contents were already captured into the symbol on his chest – He could access the nightmare imprint at any time. He could also voice out questions and receive answers from them.

After accepting his main mission, several huge red numbers appeared in his vision and started counting down. His 48 hours had started, entering the terminator world approximately 5 minutes 31 seconds ago. Beneath the numbers there were several options, Sheyan thought for a moment and shouted out.

“World Status!”

‘Time: the Year 1984, 12th of May, 10 in the morning.’

‘Address: California, Los Angeles. (North latitude 42.19 Degrees, west longitude 83.2 Degrees)’

‘Scene: Terminator’s first appearance’

‘Difficulty level: Easy’

‘Pain limits: 70’

‘Individual extra strength: 50.’

‘Present extraterrestrial vision: 0.31’

‘Additional tips: In a peaceful environment/scenario, the contestant’s death will not trigger any loot to drop. Initializing personal digitalized character information sharing. A contestant can use his nightmare imprint to scan a person’s attributes.’

‘You are free to roam about and interact with any character. You will be forgotten after leaving this world.’

‘Mission counter: 1’

‘Your original appearance has been restored, and you are free to adjust your appearance within this Nightmare realm. Any doubts, you can ask through the Nightmare imprint or use your powers to get an answer.’

Sheyan stared into the mirror, fascinated by his new appearance and proceeded to dress in a new set of clothes. In his mind, the most useful things from the message undoubtedly are the “Pain limitations of 70” and “Increased strength of 50”, going by logical thinking, his battle prowess will have at least doubled.

Sheyan then chose a personal digital assistant character (Used to pass the information I presume), Suddenly something floated out in his vision:

‘Contestant number 1018’s information. A fully grown adult male, calculating attributes.’

‘Contestant number 1018 innate ability: Endurance (Passive). Any character’s attack on you will be lowered by 25 points, if the damage is beneath 25 points then overall damage will count as 1.’

‘Pointer: Innate abilities can only be further practised to greater heights after being awakened, that is why it is unleashed within the nightmare realm and space. Only when one successfully grasps the power of their innate ability can they use it in other environments or places.’

‘Pointer: Innate ability grading: C class’

‘Your Innate ability is only relevant to your genetic class, it will not work with other classes.’

‘Strength: 8 points (5 points). Strength determines your close combat prowess. This affects your ability to carry heavy objects, which includes certain heavy but powerful weapons/equipment.’

‘Agility: 6 Points (5 points). Agility determines your movement speed and attack speed, and ability to dodge. It also affects your ability in far-range attacks/ defence.’

‘Physique: 12 Points (5 points). Basic endurance: Physique determines your ability to resist an attack, it also determines your stamina in battle, and affects the speed of health regeneration as well as defence. Health regeneration: physique divided by 2 per minute (This means Sheyan’s health regeneration is 6 points per minute). Your life force (Health points) is your physique x 10.’

‘Under extremely heavy injuries, the speed of health regeneration will also slow down.’

‘Base defence: Physique/2’

So Sheyan’s defence was 6 points.

‘Defence is the primary attribute in resisting an opponent’s attack, defence can also protect against /shorten or lower battle abnormalities (Dizziness, slowness, stuns, frost and burns etc).’

‘Lower injury rate formula: Decreasing damage percentage = (defence x 0.4)/ (Defence X 0.4 +10)’

‘Actual power: 1 point of defence is equivalent to lowering 4% of incoming damage. It also shortens any battle abnormalities on your body by 4%.’

‘5 defence can lessen approximately 16% of total damage and shorten abnormalities by 16%.’

‘10 defence can lessen approximately 28% of total damage and shorten abnormalities by 28%.’ 

‘15 defence can lessen approximately 37% of total damage and shorten abnormalities by 37%.’ 

50 defence can lessen approximately 66% of total damage and shorten abnormalities by 66%.’

‘100 defence can lessen approximately 80% of total damage and shorten abnormalities by 80%.’

‘100 defence can lessen 80%of damage. However from here on, the higher the defence the rate of reducing damage grows much slower.’

‘Perception sensing: 11 points (5 points). Perception is the attribute that determines how much you can hear, feel and see.’

‘Perception sensing allows you to feel if there is danger up ahead and give a better understanding of the situation/area allowing for critical planning. A person with high perception sensing can sense danger quickly, the bigger the danger the earlier it will be sensed, allowing them to make preparations in advance. These influences attack precisions, a long-range combatant naturally uses his Perception sense to pressure his opponents.’

‘Take note: If an opponent’s Perception sensing level is higher than yours, your Perception sense will be weakened and even counteracted. If your opponent’s perception sense is overwhelmingly higher than yours, he can easily trick you or throw you off track easily.’

‘Charm: 6 points (5 points). Charm refers to your appearance, speech, class, and the ability to comprehend, connect and gather information from others. Charm mainly determines how well you can bond and interact with others, which may increase the rate of mastering various mysterious skills or even lower the chance of people attacking you. Certain specialized enchantments or summoning skills may also require a certain charm level. As such, charm influences other attributes greatly, and a person with a high charm level has certain advantages in dire situations.’

‘Intelligence: 5 points (5 points). Intelligence determines your mental power (MP) and also the rate of MP regeneration. Strictly speaking, it determines the number of times you can release a skill. Your current MP: Intelligence x 10.’

‘Spirit: 4 Points (5 points). Spirit power can enhance your skills formidably, it also influences skill damaging frequency.’

‘Once you have entered the NIghtmare space/world, your wounds will heal faster than a normal person by 400 times. Your concentration/focus recovery rate is also 120 times a normal person. ‘

‘Your current HP is 120 points, MP is 50 points. Once your HP is lower than 2 points, your moment and perception will be greatly impaired, and you will die once HP reaches 0 points. When MP is at 1 point, where this state will induce symptoms of headaches, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue. Once MP reaches 0, you will blackout.’

‘Your body attributes have already been digitalized. Once you face any danger in this nightmare realm, any fatal attacks directed to your brain/ heart will not result in you instantly dying, it will only increase greatly the damage you receive. However, if an enemy injures your perceptive organs like your eyes/nose/ears or other key areas, you will still be affected accordingly whether it is the loss of hearing/deafness/crippling etc.’

‘Losing of perceptive organs will not be able to be treated with jus rest or ordinary elixirs. Under normal circumstances, one must return to the nightmare space for medical treatment, unless the person finds a special elixir/item or a character that possess healing abilities.

While absorbing all this information, Sheyan could see a short red line appearing before his eyes, below it a blue line. This should be the so-called Life Force (HP) as well as Mental Power (MP).’

Understanding, Sheyan nodded his head, no wonder his intuition and ability to overcome the odds was exceptional since he was young. It should be because his perception level was quite a bit above the norm at 11 points, and as for why he could last for so long even after a gunshot to the chest was because of his high physique level at 12 points.

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“Innate ability?” Sheyan was amused at this mysterious attribute. He immediately tried using the nightmare imprint to access more information about himself. The sound of the typewriter typing immediately filled his ears.

‘To be selected as a contestant in his nightmare realm, one had to possess immense character and potential far from the ordinary folk. Being more skilful or stronger in one aspect is one’s innate ability. Amongst the contestants selected, over 50 had an innate ability, and even some possessed more than a few innate abilities.’

When Sheyan heard this, he frowned. Over 50 possessed innate abilities, this was not good news, as he continued listening to the nightmare imprint:

‘According to your body evaluation, you currently possess two usable skills. Basic footwork LVL 1 and Basic endurance: LVL 1. After returning you can go for another body evaluation.’

Sheyan immediately identified these two skills to survey, ‘the meaning of basic footwork LVL 1: you have learned a few evading techniques, allowing you to be more nimble in battle. Meaning of basic endurance: You normally like exercising, that is why your endurance level is increased.’ This must be the results of Sheyan’s training in the real world.

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“Brat, the money you gave will only last you till now, the next customer has already paid his room fees. Quick pack your stuff and leave. Remember, I will be back 5 minutes later, you would not want to see me then.”

Sheyan’s expression darkened as he heard a woman knocking on his door, his brows twitched as he swallowing up his unhappiness. At that moment, he could hear a soft voice in his ears saying: ‘Current world commenced!’

He immediately stepped out of his room. At this moment, he suddenly felt a wave of heat bubbling up in his entire body, his footsteps have also become extremely light. He inquired about his attributes, strength 12 points, agility 9 points, physique 18 points, perception 17 points (Rounding up), charm 9 points, spirit 6 points and intelligence 8 points. His attributes have all been increased by 50%.

He raised his fist, feeling the strength flowing in his bones. At that moment, it was as though something awakened in his heart, an unexplainable ambition simultaneously sprung up.

“With this sort of strength, what are Huashan Fei or Black Devil? They are all trash! If this realm is really so mysterious, then Uncle Dasi’s crippled hands can be restored here!”

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Sheyan’s room was at the end of the second floor, and the only stairs were at the other end. To go down, he had to walk through the entire corridor. Looking at the fat dark-skinned woman in front of him swaying her buttocks nonchalantly, Sheyan got a little annoyed. At that moment, the fat woman stopped at another room and loudly shouted:

“Rental time is up, if the customer wants to continue, please proceed below to pay up.”

After speaking she walked down. Sheyan remained unconcerned, as he prepared to make his way down. It was at the very moment when he reached the room that the fat lady just shouted at, the room door abruptly swung open. A male with a long and full beard stepped out.

The bar was an old building that urgently needs construction, as the wood flooring croaked with each step, the stair’s railing was extremely shaky and the place was extremely filthy. When the bearded man walked out, he coincidentally blocked Sheyan’s path leaving no room to slip past.

Sheyan halted, raising this thick brows and shut his eyes, he immediately could see a glimmer of radiance signifying danger. Under normal circumstances, walking sideways would have been fine, but after getting his perceptive sensing, it was extremely easy to predict anything. Within this peacefulness, danger lurks everywhere. If he walked sideways to pass, he would expose himself to the unknown risk right in front of him!

Sheyan’s behaviour may have been a little paranoid, but the fact of the matter was, that this person walked out at the exact time he passed the door, and was similarly alone in his hotel room! Anyone could notice the hidden significance. He may very well be in the same boat, one of these so-called “contestants!”. Although Sheyan may be an amateur here, he at least remembers the initial explanation about this place and that it was in a peaceful setting, meaning contestants that die will not drop any loot.

This detail, after eliminating its primary objectives, holds two hidden truths. A contestant can actually be killed, and there would be scenarios in the future where killing fellow contestants can allow one to reap huge benefits. The important point is that Sheyan’s main task was to destroy the space-time convergence in 48 hours, however, what if there was only one space-time convergence?

Undoubtedly there would be a conflict of interests between the other contestants, inevitably leading to dire consequences. This possibility may not be big, but it is definitely possible! To Sheyan, relying on one’s fist would be the best option, there was no other!

That is why Sheyan could expose himself, he did not dare to! This bearded man looked as though he had no intention to leave. The reason was, if he turned his body around, it would expose his entire back, and he could only pray Sheyan was not hostile. If Sheyan was hostile, then he would die a very ill-fated and unfair death!

The two remained motionless in the corridor, surveying each other, trying to figure out the other but both were not willing to make the first move. This was because both were not confident in their personal victory. Fearing there were others spying on them, Sheyan deliberated for a moment, slowly reaching out for a cigarette in his coat as he lighted it and took a puff. Squinting his eyes as though he was enjoying his cigarette, he slowly extended his left hand placing it on the mouldy wooden railing.

Sheyan’s actions were very slow and gentle wanting to prevent the other party from misjudging his sudden actions. As he pressed down harder onto the railing, suddenly this already shaky railing actually broke completely! Feigning, he fell down from the second floor in frantic. This was only the second floor, as Sheyan effortlessly did a somersault and landed on the ground. He looked up and took a nice long stare at the bearded man. Afterwards, he kicked away the two crooked stool blocking his way, pushed open the main door and walked into the streets.


	7. Crime in Los Angeles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sheyan debut's his status and the King of gambling and the reality of the world violently shows him not to be so cocky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I couldn't think of a good summary so if you can think of anything better I am very welcome to hear, also this one felt excruciating to translate and grammatically correct so I might have missed things or incorrectly did others

Walking through an alley filled with neon streetlights, looking at the surrounding architecture of the 70s-80s, the antique vehicles, Sheyan gave off a sigh. In his heart, he felt a little wrong about rewriting the course of history, yet his expression was serene as though he had experienced a long and fulfilling life.

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The city was bustling, and he had a lot of things on his mind: Accepting this request meant he was fully aware of the hidden dangers. The first course of action was to familiarize himself with the environment, it was best if he could find some useful equipment or weapons for himself, before thinking about finding and destroying the space-time convergence. At all times, he could only rely on himself to protect himself.

To achieve this objective, the fastest possible route was to resort to crime. Since young Sheyan had been living in poverty, he was extremely familiar with robbing and stealing. However he had always secretly looked down upon his kind of behaviour, therefore Sheyan decided to forgo this shortcut.

Finding an expert guide is one of the options, letting the guide lead him and he just had to make a few threats or promises of rewards. However, threats are a double-edged sword, if one did not possess domineering powers this can easily backfire on him. Therefore, to the amateur Sheyan, the best idea was to use rewards as bait.

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Reaching deep into his pockets, he only found two measly 5 dollar notes. This small amount of money was only good enough for a meal, how would it be an incentive for someone to help him? In this world, being able to turn 10 dollars into a hundred or thousands was simply too difficult and rare. However, there was one risky method that Sheyan knew of…. Gambling!

In his previous world, Sheyan’s livelihood led him to explore different ports all around the world, experiencing many different kinds of illegal entertainment. Recalling his memories, he had indeed relied on his keen perception to win many times on the betting table. However, Sheyan knew when to cut his losses, and never intended to make gambling his hobby or professional career. Although he was not a professional player, his gambling tactics and skills were a thing to behold.

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“Since I need to resort to gambling to raise funds, then competing would be hard to avoid.”

“Before, dealing with two grown males was my limit. Even after the transformation, the maximum would be 5-6 grown men, however, if a large group were to surround me, even I will have to flee for my life. Oh right! My innate ability, Endurance, should have been awakened, however, the real strength of this ability is yet to be determined.”

“Time is of the essence, I can only try first, if it doesn’t work out I will think of another way.”

Sheyan was scheming in his heart, deciding to first survey his environment. Realizing that the bearded man did not follow him, he relaxed and continued walking down the alley, making a slight turn he reached a road intersection. On the left was the ground floor of a tall building, and a loop of shabby-looking neon signs, vaguely spelling out the words  _ “Dallas Pub” _ . The crowd there was small, and the surroundings were remote. The pub had a small slanted back door looking as though it was used as an escape route, and its main door was a rusty sliding door, making creaking sounds as it slides.

Walking to the entrance once could smell a warm odour mixed with cheap cosmetics, beer, and sweat causing Sheyan to sneeze twice. Inside the bar was a chaotic mess, loud music filled the air, the walls were decorated with cracks, vandalism and obscene drawings.

There was dust everywhere easily noticeable under the lighting. On the left was a bar counter and the wooden slab had been split open, while above the counter was an array of beer bottles hanging atop a metal extension along the wall. A wooden board was nailed onto the wall, resting on it were a few glass bottles and pictures of celebrities. Those glass bottles contained a mixture of whiskies and other alcohols.

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The bartender was a bald man, folding his hands against his chest. He had a horse a face, a pair of small eyes staring cautiously at the unfamiliar Sheyan. Sheyan walked to the bar counter and very naturally produced a rolled-up 5 dollar bill using an impatient tone he spoke.

“Hi Jack, get me a glass of beer.”

The bartender retrieved the money, his expression relaxing a little as his trained hands poured a big glass of beer, he replied coldly.

“The names Martin.”

Sheyan drank a mouthful of beer, looking at his surroundings. He noticed a gathering of 5-6 people. Most of them were gambling, two ladies in a flowery costume were pacing about entertaining customers. Apart from serving and clearing the beer glasses, they used their deep cleavage to receive tips from customers.

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Sheyan spun around observing, he got a clearer understanding of their betting games. He circled one of the group, cheering around with them as he blended in, fishing out the 5 dollar note in his coat. Although his bet was only 5 dollars, in Sheyan’s heart he felt a tinge of nervousness and a very strong desire to win, This was his entire fortune!

This little fact heightened Sheyan’s perception which was proven extremely beneficial for him. His original 5 dollars turned to 10 and although he lost 3 dollars the bet afterwards, 20 minutes later his 5 bucks had increased 6 fold! Sheyan then proceeded to change to another betting group engaged in a game of Texas poker. Normally this game had a higher rate of losing than winning, but Sheyan’s winnings for one round far outweigh the amount lost for another, After a mere half an hour, his fortune expanded to 4 digits, and the surrounding gamblers all had an ugly expression. 

_ Full House! _ Sheyan’s hand once again decimated his opponents, and at this point, a large crowd had begun gathering around this betting table. Especially on Sheyan’s left and right unknowingly stood two huge thugs showing off a black tattoo on their bulky arms. They pretended to converse between themselves about beating someone to pulp the previous night but were trying to indirectly pressure Sheyan.

A small punk like figure with a tiny beard, wearing a cowboy hat, sitting directly opposite from Sheyan had just lost everything leaving a space in front of him. However, the punk-like figure, as though oblivious to his financial crisis, foolishly persisted in gambling as he shouted out.

**“500 bucks!”**

Sheyan shrugged his shoulders as he unenthusiastically spoke out.

“Show me your cash first.”

Small beard looked up and spoke with an evil grin.

“Looks like you don’t recognize who Blood Jack is? That’s fine, I ain’t got no cash but what I can bet you are my to bloody fuckin fingers!”

The now named Blood Jack reached down to a dagger in his boot and stabbed it onto the table.

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Before entering this pub, Sheyan had already calculated the possibility of something similar happening. Feeling calm, his eyes slightly squinting, he laughed coldly but did not say anything.

Bloody Jack mistook that as fear, as he laughed out loud.

“Leave all the cash on you behind! If you dare you can even mortgage two fingers to me!”

Bloody Jack then coughed loudly and spat into a nearby glass of alcohol. He then preceded to slide the glass across the betting table to Sheyan as he ignorantly laughed.

“Of course, you need to drink this glass of alcohol as reparation, then you can fuck off.”

The two huge thugs, with cold smiles on their faces, had their hands pressed down on Sheyan’s shoulders. They were afraid Sheyan would try to escape in the face of terror. 

However, at this very moment, rolling his eyes Sheyan laughed before words escaped through the cracks between his teeth as he suddenly stopped to glare at Bloody Jack.

“Bastard, you’re dead!”

As the words escaped his mouth, he shrugged his shoulders violently as he elbowed fiercely to the thugs behind him. His movements were extremely smooth yet abrupt, as Bloody Jack’s man were all prepared for Sheyan’s attempt to escape but never expected him to retaliate!

Sheyan was sitting on a small raised chair, while the two huge thugs were both inclining towards him on both sides. With a ferocious elbow behind, it smashed through the stool’s back support and landed heavily onto the crotch of the two thugs.

While Bloody Jack was an outlaw, looking at the unfolding violence in front of him, his heart was set ablaze with rage. He immediately reached out for the dagger still stuck vertically on the table. Sheyan who was still sitting on the stool, with little space to dodge on his sides, instead swung forward aiming at Bloody Jack’s wrist. Coincidentally, Bloody Jack struck out with his knife and instead he misjudged and grabbed onto the blade of the incoming knife instead.

Sheyan’s heart trembled, he was extremely confident in his grip however he recalled something right before swung out his hand: In this world, a contestant’s strength was increased by 50% including their other attributes. Because of this, he misjudged the speed of his hand and over swung and instead of grabbing Bloody Jack’s wrist, he caught the blade! 

Looking at this, Bloody Jack gave off an evil laugh, fiercely pulling out the knife from Sheyan’s hand as the blade slashed against his opponent’s fingers attempting to severe them.

Although the shimmering dagger blade was dyed with a dark red, Sheyan only felt a slight pain in his hands. Not thinking upon the pain any further, he pounced forward grabbing onto Bloody Jack’s black hair and smashed it downwards.

**_PAM!_ ** With a mighty slam, the table became crooked as the alcohol glasses and betting chips flew upwards upon impact. Bloody Jack’s face was bloody as he looked up furiously but was immediately blown away with a heavy punch. His heavy body flipped backwards twice as he smashed against the floor blowing away a few tables along the way.

To Bloody Jack, he felt as though a massively truck had repeatedly slammed against him. It happened so fast he couldn’t even feel the pain as his world was spun around him, he opened his mouth to speak but with a mouth full of blood he could only choke his words out.

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Although Sheyan’s strength was quite exceptional, his agility and escaping ability were not considered high. After his last punch, he could already feel a murderous wind from all sides along with angry curses, as Bloody Jack’s angry underlings began their assault.

**_PAM! PAM! PAM!_ ** the sound of fists whipping forward surged, as two beer bottles had

crashed down onto Sheyan’s head. Shards of glass were flying about as another attacker violently smacked a stool onto Sheyan’s back. Sheyan swiftly reacted as he spun around with a murderously terrifying look as he charged forward the assailant with killing intent.

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Two minutes later, no one on Blood Jack’s side was left standing, all sprawling across the ground in agony moaning and groaning in pain. Sheyan was already very experienced in dealing with this kind of people, furthermore, his strength had recently been greatly enhanced to a high 12 points. He was easily stronger than a grown strong male by twofold, inflicting heavy damage everywhere he struck. His normal blows were strong enough to even cause fractures and internal bleeding upon impact.

Fighting inside this pub was a common occurrence, as the passersby casually dispersed to one side and carried on watching the show. However, the conclusion shocked everyone to a stupor. This new guy managed to take down 6 huge hooligans in a short timespan and yet he didn’t even look much like a fighter, one that could take on six huge men alone even more. Although there were visible wounds on his body, looking at his stance and aura, it felt like he could challenge another 6 and win!

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Looking at the disorderly mess of his opponents on the floor, Sheyan contemptuously gave off a snort and tidied up his coat, he then casually picked up a bottle of brandy and poured it on his injured hand. What was shocking is that his wound was not as deep as he imagined it to be, and even portrayed signs of closing up.

“What… what is this?” Sheyan was a tad amazed, he had used his hand to ferociously grab onto the sharp knife blade, his wound shouldn’t have been light. He reached out to feel his head and felt only a faint tingling pain on the area where the beer bottles smashed on, and it did not even bleed. Suspiciously, he activated his nightmare imprint and gathered

information:

‘Because of your perceptive sensing, you have acquired the recent battle statistics.’

‘Replaying battle sequence.’

‘Your elbow strike gave Bloody Jack’s henchman 48 points of total damage (Lower vital point sustained great injuries), stunning him rendering him unable to continue the battle.’

‘Your elbow strike gave Bloody Jack’s henchman 43 points of total damage (Lower vital point sustained great injuries), stunning him rendering him unable to continue the battle.’

‘Bloody Jack’s bottled glass did 31 points of damage, your innate ability: Endurance (Passive) activated, reducing damage by 25 points, total damage received only 6 points.’

‘Bloody Jack’s henchman’s beer bottle did 27 points of damage, your innate ability: Endurance (passive) activated, reducing damage by 25 points, total damage received only 2 points.’

‘Bloody Jack’s henchmen’s stool did 8 points of damage to your back, Innate activity: Endurance (passive) activated lowering damage by 25 points, total damage received only 1 point.’

Looking at all these statistics, Sheyan let off a peal of cold laughter.

‘Looks like my innate ability is that useful!’

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With no reason to stay, winning enough cash for himself, he then walked out of the pub. Stopping at the Pub’s entrance, he spun around and walked towards the groaning Bloody Jack. Squatting down he slapped lightly on his face as he whispered.

“Didn’t you wager two fingers to me before hand?”

Bloody Jack immediately shrank backwards, his eyes exhibiting a terrifying look. When he was about to speak, Sheyan had already retrieved the shiny dagger beside him as he sliced lightly. Alongside a mournful shrill, two severed fingers flew up, one landing onto a leg of the nearby thug and the other landing into a glass of alcohol dyeing it red. Coincidentally, it was the glass of alcohol that Bloody Jack had spat in previously.

“Okay, now we’re even,” Sheyan whispered. He then swiped clean all the money on the betting table as he left without looking back.

Sheyan had a sudden thought: To a contestant, in the instance upon entering the nightmare realm, his body would experience a digital transformation, but it was also a body strengthening process!

Citing a simple example, Liu Xiang’s (*Liu Xiang is a Chinese 110-meter hurdler. Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion. His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a men’s track and field event for China.) best result is 12.91 seconds, however, he cannot possibly replicate that same result every time. However, after a digital transformation, he could then produce the same results even in after 10 attempted back to back.

This was the reason why Sheyan was able to easily deal with each opponent individually with equal intensity although his attributes were not overwhelmingly greater than them. This is because his every action, no matter if it was attacking/defending/dodging, it was all operating at his maximum capacity following his attribute points. Coupled with excellent battle tactics and experience, he was able to attain victory with relative ease!

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After striding through several streets, Sheyan started looking for a public telephone. At the time, public phones were fixed by the roadside in America, and phones were found inside phone booths. This protected the user from the rain as well as prevent anybody from eavesdropping. The phone booth also contained an umbrella, a phone book as well as a cooling ointment for the skin on hot days.

The massively thick phonebook contained a huge amount of names along with their house address, job and personal phone numbers. Every phone booth had an allocated sector to prevent crowding, however, it is already 9 plus at night, and the night was still young and free causing a huge queue outside every phone booth.

Sheyan’s goal wasn’t to make a phone call but to research the person named “Sarah Connor” through the phone book. Primarily, it looked as if there was no relation between his main mission and this female character, however looking in retrospect to this Terminator world, Sarah Connor is no doubt a pivotal character. If Sheyan was able to locate her earlier on, then he would have a much bigger advantage.

Sheyan waited at a phonebooth with a seemingly shorter queue. Actually, with Sheyan’s power, he could forcefully obtain money from others, threaten others to lead him to places, and even cut this queue without others going against him. Why should he go through this much trouble?

Based on Sheyan’s conventional behaviour, he was generally a person with great morals, but that was not the main reason. Within him, he felt a tiny intuition that once he committed such immoral actions, it would trigger several unnecessary or detrimental consequences. This intuition should be the advantage of his high perceptive sensing.

Looking ahead there were still 3 people in the queue, Sheyan went ahead and entered a mini-mart first. Purchasing a pack of cigarettes, he started smoking and leisurely paid 50 dollars without waiting for the change from the stubby middle-aged saleswoman behind the counter. The elderly woman was so pleased that her smile pushed her cheek fats to the corners of her face. As Sheyan was about to join back the phone queue, he was suddenly attracted to the noise from a nearby television.

‘Los Angeles crime news report, there’s been a new development in the Bulude street case with a suspect named Porter. At approximately 5:07 PM he robbed a supermarket, killing 6 civilians and stealing the day’s earnings. 2 of the police amongst the 3 on his tail were also killed in the line of duty. According to investigators, the suspect had probably gone through intensive rigorous strength-enhancing exercises, as his escaping abilities in running and jumping far exceeded the normal person. As of now, police have activated a large task force to capture this criminal, this is all from our reporter on site.”

Sheyan immediately raised his brows, he should have entered this world at about 5 pm and that guy named Porter committed the crime at 5:07 PM. The timing is too coincidental… at this time, the television broadcasted a live image. On-site, there were several police cars with their flashing siren lights on the street. 20-30 Policemen were taking cover while holding on to their guns, someone was shouting at the suspect to surrender.

Suddenly, a high-speed sedan came charging out! That screeching sound from the wheels made people want to pull out their ears, and the policemen without hesitation started firing off their guns. Thick white smoke was emerging from the sports car’s hood. At this moment, a matchless bulky silhouette pushed out from the car door, in the air he appeared extremely agile and graceful as though a fish swimming in the pond. Somersaulting, he landed in the middle of those policemen.

At that moment the American policemen started panicking, as they were afraid of firing at him in fear of shooting at their comrades, just like refraining from hitting rats for fear of breaking the vase (Chinese idiom). That unrestrained black figure moved as though possessing super speed, a moment he was charging forward, the next he had already heavily struck down one of the policemen. The might of the strike threw the poor cop 5-6 metres away. Screaming, the cop flew and landed onto the windscreen of a police car shattering it, looking as though he had broken a dozen bones.

Sheyan took a deep breath, he naturally observed that the black figure’s speed was fairly superior to his. According to his calculation, it must have been faster than the average person by threefolds. In retrospect, if this guy was a contestant, his agility must at least have been 15 points or more! If that guy’s innate ability could further hasten his speed, then his speed would further multiply a few folds!

That black figure slid around the police cars nimbly like a snake – swift, precise, deadly, one by one the policemen dropped helplessly. This strange scene left the onlookers aghast, shocked, uneasy and frightened! It was simply a massacre!

However it was at this moment, a dark green police car came speeding in from far, this police car was extremely huge, between the sizes of an ambulance or fire truck. The siren was flashing atop the car roof without a sound, it was swift as lightning, coupled with the reckless drifting gave one a misconception of its arrival.

Sheyan looked at this police car as a feeling of dread came upon him, unconsciously taking a few steps back and clenching his fists – even the threat was immensely felt through the television screen. He wondered how he would have felt if he was on the scene himself.

While he was still lost in thought, the police car’s windscreen suddenly retracted as three black gun barrels emerged silently from within. Distinctly, one could see a black glove holding on the grip of the gun – a grip with boulder-like stability! Then, a spray of glaring gunfire shot out from the tip of the barrel! Before the broken car glass fragments fell to the ground, the distant black figure had already been shot excessively. First the chest, then the forehead followed by the rest of the body as blood spilt out from the gunshot wounds as he was thrown off from the impact. Taking another 3 shots in mid-air, he flew 7-8 metres and landed on the ground with a **_Pam!_ ** , rolling several more times and finally came to a motionless halt.

Under the intense glare of the spotlight, this guys’ blood drained out slowly flowing into the nearby drain cover. Apart from the occasional twitch, he looked as though he could not die an uglier death.

Consecutively, Sheyan’s nightmare imprint spoke through his ears:

‘Through your perceptive sensing, you have gained the following information.’

‘Contestant number 1844 was assaulted by special anti-terror task force delta.’

‘Contestant number 1844 is dead.’

‘Because you have witnessed the death scene of contestant no. 1844 through the television screen, you are unable to retrieve any battle statistics’

Sheyan took in a deep breath, as he started breaking out in cold sweat. Since the appearance of the delta anti-terror task force, he had never battered his eyelid even once! It was obvious his current strength was vastly inadequate. At this moment he realized something, it was also one of the initial pointers: In the Terminator world, slaughtering over a hundred innocent civilians would lead one to accomplish the “Butcher” milestone. This was not difficult to achieve, but contained a great underlying danger!

From this unfortunate contestant no. 1884, it can be seen that even powerful contestants with superhuman abilities could not resist the balance and laws of society. To the aforementioned contestant: Meaningless crime and slaughter would attract the police, but it was extremely easy for him to escape the clutches of the police. He had even resisted and dealt with most of the policemen, which unknowingly activated the shocking delta anti-terror task force!

No matter what, if a contestant breaks the laws of society, he would still face the full force of the law through the police. The ordinary policemen were the primary boundary of this world, however, if one were to forcefully step over the boundary, they would invoke a stronger response for example the delta anti-terror task force! Beyond this anti-terror task force, who knew what other stronger defence mechanism was there.

On scene through the television, rescue and clean up works had begun, as corpses dripping with blood were being dragged about. Followed by new reporters and critics voicing out their views about this incident and the dead criminal. They were swiftly trying to deduce the criminal with their reasoning – drug addict, drug enhancements, serial killer, heartless, mentally impaired etc. The public quickly accepted the reported theories.

Sheyan puffed on his cigarette, shutting his eyes, as he allowed the smoke to escape out his lungs and through his nostrils. As though this could relieve the stress in his heart. He pondered awhile, he finally noticed the queue at the phone booth as finally empty and proceeded to walk forward to check through the phone book for a “Sarah Connor”.

According to the movies, due to the destruction of the information storages before the war, even the Terminator was unable to locate his assassination target, “Sarah Connor”. As such, he also used the phonebook to check on Sarah’s whereabouts. Luckily, the female lead “Sarah Connor” was the third Sarah on the list. After eliminating the first two Sarahs, the Terminator then started to look for the third and actual Sarah, thus giving her a lot of time to hide and prepare herself.


End file.
